Quick question on the mouth plates......

[Animal31]

Sorry for repeating myself, I'll get used to these forums yet......

 

[TheCreatureWork]

I've found Gasket Rubber at Home Hardware up here in Canada
http://www.homehardware.ca/Products/index/show/product/I3232031/name/gasket_sheet_assortment

You can also try ebay
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=120331651328

I've heard if you ask Garages for Gasket Rubber they may have some but all the mechanics I've asked just looked at me funny.

Home Depot and Rona don't carry it- we'll at least the ones here in Ontario don't

 

[Animal31]

I'm just the opposite, I'd like to try and experiment with soft palattes, because I really would like to add some expression to my puppets' faces, especially since when I write my shows, I tend to write actions that require flexibility, like if a puppet were to expression annoyance with a smirk, or a scrunched up face similar to Kermit, etc. I haven't tried gasket rubber, but I would like too... I've found that craft foam doesn't help shape very well; I experimented with it with a puppet once, and after several smirks and such, the puppet's mouth began to lose shape, and looked like it was in a permanent sneer. Of course it probably wouldn't hurt to use thinner foam rubber for the head construction either.

With soft palattes, or even in a larger puppet, do you recommend stitching the mouth to the edges of the fleece (if that's even possible) or are they glued? Did that make sense?

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm not really a pro at puppet building, I'm much better at performing.

Personally, I use hot glue as much as I can (most recommend contact cement, but hot glue is easier to come by) when it comes to overall construction, leaving sewing to the fabrication; when it comes to the fabric for the edges of the mouth, I usually trim it, then roll it up slightly to give it that rounded look, then glue it to the mouth - a little trick I picked up from a Frenchman who shared how he built replicas of the Avenue Q puppets on YouTube.

That's what I do, but again, I'm not quite that good at the building aspect of puppets myself... let's see what others, like Gordon, have to say about it...

 

[Melonpool]

That's about the only part of the construction that I still do with hot glue -- though I have used contact cement a couple of times, and it is a lot better (especially if you ever have to remove the fleece for repairs). I just find it's easier to get a thin line of hot glue than to get the contact cement exactly where I want it.

 

[Animal31]

I've found Gasket Rubber at Home Hardware up here in Canada
http://www.homehardware.ca/Products/index/show/product/I3232031/name/gasket_sheet_assortment

You can also try ebay
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=120331651328

I've heard if you ask Garages for Gasket Rubber they may have some but all the mechanics I've asked just looked at me funny.

Home Depot and Rona don't carry it- we'll at least the ones here in Ontario don't

After your suggestion (thanks for that) I check with my cousin who owns a garage, and I struck out, they now make the gaskets with corkboard and paper. But I did look online since then and found something called "Red Rubber" packing sheets at Lowes online which sound VERY similar. They come in two sizes, 1/16 and 1/8........

I will also say that day one of conscruction leaves a little to be desired, I am having no luck at all in making a good head pattern for a Kermit style muppet........

 

[D'Snowth]

they now make the gaskets with corkboard and paper.

Well that really screws us over.

 

[CoOKiE]

i too have heard of gasket rubber... but... are we talking about the sheets or what? Because we could be just talking about the rings... which in the past i thought the puppet builder was reffering too.

I use cereal boxes myself. I use 2 pieces of felt for the mouth and hand grip. I find that my hand can grip better with this then say fleece. ALOT BETTER.

 

[Animal31]

Well that really screws us over.

HaHa, I know, everything is going "green"! I'm going to check Lowes tonight I think, I was also thinking of trying to use the vinyl edging that you can get for the yard. I was fixing the one I have around a tree and noticed how thin and bendible it was, plus it didn't seem to pinch or crease when I folded it........

Just a thought

 

[spcglider]

The last time I bought rubber toilet gasket was at a small hardware store (ACE Hardware). That may not be too helpful for folks outside of the US as I do not know if ACE is international... doubt it.

The smaller hardware stores tend to be independently owned and so might carry things outside of the norm from the "big box" hardware/lumber chains.

When I bought mine, it was dispensed from a roll. It was "classic" rubber... kinda reddish pink in color and about 3/32 of an inch thick. The sheet was 12 inches wide and X feet long. I bought 2 feet since I didn't really know much about using it and was simply going for experimentation.

I don't know if I can even get it at the same place any more. They moved and changed stuff around in their store to "update". Which, in my experience, means you won't be able to get what you want anymore.

-Gordon